Externalizing switches and much more

[manson]

ANY Boss, DOD, or similar pedal that uses FET-switching can often be easily retrofitted for remote switching.  The internal switch is a simple momentary SPST unit that temporarily grounds a connection.  There is little reason why a person couldn't install a mini-phone jack, and plug in a cable to a parallel momentary switch.  Certainly all the individual grounds can feed a single wire, and the remaining pedals each contribute only a single additional wire each.  So, imagine the arrangement whereby a person has a half-dozen FET-switched pedals seated atop some sort of pedestal/pedalboard at waist or chest height.  A "snake" takes those retrofitted control lines down to a switchboard on the ground, where the user has strategically situated momentary switches (big push-buttons) that they can step on, say, two or three at a time or individually if they feel like it.  Many commercial pedals make themselves more amenable to remote switching than you'd think.[/li][/list]

Interestingly its a very simple mod to make any comercial pedal that uses electronic switching (boss, DOD, digitech, danelectro, etc) remotely switched, just run wires from their momentary stomp switch out to the tip and sleeve of a jack, and connect an external momentary switch that connects the tip and sleeve.

This would do it for me. Without LED's and things. Could I put a stompbox into a rack, install a mini jack connected to the pedal's switch, and feed that into a floor unit with it's own (parallel) switch? The effects I want to box are: 2x Boss (CS2,BD2), 1 Digitech Bad Monkey and a Black BigMuff.
Thanks

[Mark Hammer]

Absolutely.  I don't know what sort of switching arrangement the Black Big Muff uses (not likely electronic), but certainly the Boss and DOD stuff is amenable to it.

I have a couple of Boss and DOD pedals in my collection.  I should probably find some time to whip up an illustrated example and post it.  Not until the spare bedroom floor gets sanded down and refinished, though...unfortunately.

[manson]

That would be great Mark, whenever you find the time.

Hey I could probably also use a standard switch like this one:

[Mark Hammer]

Yes, except that the switches MUST be momentary, not latching.  If you want to go "deluxe", Steve Daniels /Smallbear sells a DPDT momentary switch.  You could use one switch to control two pedals at once.  Parallel that DPDT switch with a pair of SPST momentaries, and you could use the DPDT to *flip* between pedals with one button press.  Huh?  remember that the momentary simply reverses the state of the pedal from whatever it was to whatever it is now.  If you use the individual momentary to set one pedal to effect and the other to bypass, then stepping on the dual momentary reverses the state of both pedal A and B, such that whatever was on is now off and vice versa.

There is no end to the sorts of conveniences one can dream up when the switches can be relocated independently of the physical constraints of their original housing.